HE CHARGED STATE INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS AND MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES TO PROCURE TOILET ROLLS LOCALLY STARTING NEXT YEAR.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia Thursday inspected a toilet roll factory at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons intended to enhance productivity and inculcate employable skills in the prisoners.
The move would enable prison inmates to gain employable skills that would lead to sources of livelihood upon release from prison.
The factory is a joint venture between the Ghana Prisons Service and the Brompton Portfolio Group Limited, which falls under the government's flagship programme, "One District, One Factory" towards industrialising the Ghanaian economy and creating jobs.
"THE ONE DISTRICT, ONE FACTORY PROGRAMME IS ONE OF THE PILLARS OF THE PRESIDENT'S VISION OF INDUSTRIALISING THE ECONOMY AND CREATE JOBS FOR THE YOUTH," DR BAWUMIA EXPLAINED.
The factory was commissioned in May this year and currently produces 2,500 packs of toilet rolls daily, and intends to give 30 per cent of the profit towards the development of the prisons.
The Company imports raw materials for production and employs 13 prison inmates in a shift system.
Vice President Bawumia, while interacting with the media after the tour of the factory, said Government would use its power of procurement to purchase locally produced toilet rolls, in order to sustain indigenous firms.
He charged state institutions including schools, hospitals and ministries, departments and agencies to procure toilet rolls locally starting next year.
This, he said, would enable the nation to reduce its import bill on toilet rolls, which stood at US$70 million last year, and save foreign exchange earnings.
"When we came into office in 2017, there were nine existing toilet roll factories, but within the two-and-half years, we have added five, meaning the number has been increased by 50 per cent.
"The One District, One Factory programme is one of the pillars of the President's vision of industrialising the economy and create jobs for the youth," Dr Bawumia explained.
He said the toilet roll factory in prisons was a unique and socially responsible model and assured of government’s resolve to support it to grow and drastically reduce the nation's large dependence on import.
Mr James Topp Yankah, Founder and Managing Director of Brompton Group Limited, said it received one million Ghana Cedis from the Ghana Commercial Bank, since it started operations in May this year, and so far produced 700,000 packs of toilet rolls.
He said it had plans of opening more of such factories in prisons across the country and offer 30 percent of the profit towards the Prisons Reform Programme.
He said a direct sales model would be developed to enable Senior High School graduates to sell some of the products, in order to generate income and be financially dependent.
"We also produce biodegradable products and this will help government's efforts to control the plastic waste menace," Mr Yankah stated.
Source: GNA
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